Monday, September 12, 2011

One of several subspecies of leopard, the Zanzibar leopard made its home on the Zanzibar archipelago of Tanzania. It's still unclear whether this large cat is technically extinct — there are occasional unconfirmed sightings.

Cause of extinction: Locals believed the leopards were kept by witches, and aggressively hunted them. The animals were seen as evil predators that must be exterminated — and even the government was in on the campaign. In the mid-'90s there was a short-lived conservation effort but it was deemed too little, too late.